The AVN Awards Show is an annual event hosted by Adult Video Network. It is proceeded by a HUGE expo that showcases performers, services, and adult products. The awards show honors achievements in the adult entertainment industry. Actors, movie makers, and innovators are nominated in a bunch of categories, and this is their time to see who is at the top of the industry.

It's the adult industry equivalent of the Oscars. Performers, producers, and directors from all over the world come to this event. After three days of the AVN Expo this is the main event. It comes complete with a red carpet, cameras everywhere, and big-name stars. If a total outsider were to see the pageantry, it can be mistaken for any other big awards show.

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2.Everyone looked amazing.

After I thought about it for a while this made total sense. Most of the attendees are actors; they perform for thousands of people to see, so they looked immaculate. Everyone was gorgeous and dressed to the nines. Beautiful dresses and dapper suits were everywhere I turned. In fact, a lot of the outfits I saw would rival those at any other red carpet outing.

3.I think I ended up in the wrong section... and apparently, adult entertainment doesn't start on time.

When I walked in, security was tight. I walked upstairs to and ended up in some kind of VIP section. Everyone there was either a producer or performer. I took a seat at the front table, and enjoyed complimentary drinks.

I sat in my seat awhile. I learned over the course of the expo it's an unspoken rule that everything in the adult industry starts at least 30 minutes late. The awards show was no exception. It was supposed to go on at 9 p.m., and didn't get going until 9:45. With the free beers coming in, I didn't mind the delay that much.

4.For the most part it's just like any other awards show.

Just like the Oscars, Grammys, or Tonys, the AVNs had engaging hosts in adult performers Tommy Pistol and Alexis Texas. At the beginning of the show, a moment was taken to pay tribute to people in the industry who had died in the last year. It was both sobering and sad. The AVNs have a TON of awards categories that cover everything you can imagine, but didn't show them all. If they did, the show would be six hours long. Until this show I thought teleprompters were a myth. They are, in fact, very real and the host used them the entire time.

5.But of course it had ~adult~ elements.

When scenes are nominated, they show clips of them totally uncensored, which I wasn't expecting. Rimming is apparently a big thing, because almost every clip I saw included it. Women dominated in both attendance and awards won. Winners also got emotional when accepting their awards, and many thanked their mothers in their speeches.

6.It was all about having fun.

The pre-recorded skits were hilarious and fitting for the show. One such skit suggested that female ejaculation could help farmers overcome a drought. The porn parody category was amazing, and spoofed many well-known franchises — 24 XXX: An Axel Braun parody won. Finally, the sex puns and jokes the announcers used were some of the best I've ever heard.

7.The show went by fast.

Hip-hop group Rae Sremmurd were the music performers that night, and took the stage at the beginning, middle, and end of the show. They broke up things up nicely, and made it feel like a concert. Oh, and thankfully the show only lasted about an hour and a half, which was a HUGE relief. Rumors I heard from actors and vendors during the week had me thinking it would be four hours long.

8.It's definitely a unique experience.

Between the jokes, funny skits, emotional acceptance speeches, and free booze, I had an absolute blast. The show ended with another Rae Sremmurd performance, and most of the audience came on stage and tore it up. I didn't expect it to be like a large-scale show, but it certainly was. Between the red carpet, awards presentation, and electric atmosphere, The AVN Awards can certainly hold their own with any other major awards show out there.